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LETTER XXIV.: To the Same. - Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, Complete Works, vol. 4 Familiar Letters; Miscellaneous Pieces; The Temple of Gnidus; A Defence of the Spirit of Laws [1777]

Edition used:

The Complete Works of M. de Montesquieu (London: T. Evans, 1777), 4 vols. Vol. 4.

Part of: Complete Works of Montesquieu, 4 vols.

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LETTER XXIV.

To the Same.

I HAD the honour of writing to you, my dear Abbé, whose letter tells me nothing but what is very true, in mentioning the difficulties which you should meet with in this affair, besides the several voyages, commenced, projected, and to be put in execution; and that consideration has made me to profit of a very favourable opportunity that presented itself, and which rescues you from a great deal of trouble.

I am now to tell you, that for the present I thought proper to retrench the chapter on the Stadtholdership. In the now-critical situation of affairs, it might undergo the disgrace of an unfavourable reception in France* . And I am resolved to decline every cause for altercation or chicanery. But that shall be no hindrance of my giving it to you hereafter for the Italian translation which you have undertaken to perform, as soon as my book is printed, I will take care that you shall have one of the first copies. You will find it much more commodious to translate from the printed, than the manuscript copy.

I have been whelmed with civilities, acts of politeness, and honours done to me at the court of Lorraine. I have enjoyed most delightful moments, in conversation with King Stanislaus. It is very probable that I shall be at Bourdeaux before the end of August. In the interval, until my return you should go and visit Madame de Montesquieu at Clerac. I shall not fail sending to you the two copies of the new edition of my romances which I have promised to you; one for his Serene Highness, and the other for M. le Nain. Farewell, I embrace you with all my heart.

[* ]The author shews in this chapter the necessity of a stadtholder as an integral part of the constitution of that republic. But England had brought matters about so, as to have the Prince of Orange invested with that high power, which was by no means agreeable to France, then at war with Britain, because she had profited of the weakness of the acephalous government (that is without a head) of the Dutch, to hurry on her conquests in Flanders.